‘The Truly Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn’ by Sebastian Figueredo
DC’s popular villainess Harley Quinn, played by Australian actress Margot Robbie, made her first big-screen appearance since “Suicide Squad” (2016) in the new movie “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” (2020) released Feb. 7.
I fell in love with the character of Harley Quinn, a bubbly wild-card as intelligent as she is dangerous, back when I watched “Suicide Squad” a few years ago but, in that movie, her entire character remained intertwined with Batman’s most famous villain, the Joker. “Birds of Prey” provided Quinn with the opportunity to soar (pun-intended) away from the story that her abusive relationship with the Joker tethered her to, truly “emancipating” her.
Harley Quinn remains beloved by so many DC fans because she is pure, crazy, ridiculous fun, something “Birds of Prey” captures perfectly. It never lets up on the comedy and definitely never lets up on the violence, with Quinn kicking in at least five knees over the course of the movie (what I presume to be a record). The movie paints Gotham through Harley’s eyes: colorful and exciting, especially when she crashed a truck into the ACE Chemicals Plant that led to an explosion of vibrant, multi-colored fireworks (doubling as a Joker-Harley Quinn break-up announcement).
Setting itself apart from the other DC Universe movies, “Birds of Prey” brings women front and center with a majority-female ensemble cast and director Cathy Yan. It gets rid of the oversexualized, male-gaze driven costume that Robbie wore for Suicide Squad and pops her in something much more fitting for Quinn: a colorful confetti jacket, normal-length shorts and a top with her name literally all over it (rather than a degrading Joker-adjacent epithet like “Daddy’s Little Monster” that adorned the chest of her “Suicide Squad” costume).
Incorporating the crime-fighting trio of the ‘Birds of Prey,’ consisting of vengeance-driven assassin Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), police officer Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) and singer with a ‘killer’ voice Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), the non-linear narrative of this movie keeps it entertaining. Harley Quinn tells the story the only way she could: jumping back and forth through time and peppering in as much of her own commentary as she can. Quinn’s new friendship with young pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) shows a kinder side to her and, paired with scenes of the fun-loving Quinn doing roller derby and adopting a hyena, shows the audience that she’s more relatable and not entirely the heinous villain she’s shown as in the Batman comics.
Every woman proves their own, fight scene after fight scene still staying exhilarating with its own whims, backed with a killer soundtrack. The Birds of Prey, accompanied by Cassandra Cain and Harley Quinn, work together against face-peeling villain Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) and his accomplice Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) with a culminating battle that, in true Harley Quinn fashion, takes place in her ex-lair funhouse.
“Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” (2020) presents Harley Quinn in her purest, most fun form. Ignore box office numbers or negative reviews written by misogynistic geeks. Imbued with her eccentric humor and a thrilling, vibrant storyline, this movie is the best superhero film I have seen. Let me tell you, I am probably the most easily bored, superhero-hating person ever but, Harley Quinn makes the best antihero possible.
